In response, the company released a “Prime Day Update” this afternoon, in which Amazon Prime VP Greg Greeley indicated that members of the affinity program are shopping at record rates, and that “peak order rates have already surpassed 2014 Black Friday.”

Specifically, by mid-day members had already purchased tens of thousands of Fire TV Sticks, 35,000 Lord of the Rings Blu-Ray sets and 4,000 Echo devices in 15 minutes, he reported.

“We also sold 1,200 of the $999 TVs in less than 10 minutes,” Greeley said. “And there are thousands more deals coming.”

But whether Amazon achieves Black Friday parity or earns a black eye is secondary, observed New Age Electronics president Fred Towns during a TWICE holiday webinar earlier today. What matters, he argued, is that Amazon, and responding retailers, drew attention to the CE category during the traditional summer doldrums, and that’s a good thing for the industry.